Online Now! First Time Ever! 8 of Azzedine Ala​ïa’s Archival Shows From the 1980s and ’90s

Few designers change the tide of fashion. Azzedine Ala​ïa was one who did, by finding innovative ways to follow the curves of a woman’s body. Self-taught, Ala​ïa was a master technician with perfect timing. “The King of Cling” or “Titan of Tight,” as the designer came to be known, found his stride in the early 1980s, a boom time for fashion that coincided with increasing empowerment for women—in the boardroom and bedroom. “His unique sense of the body and body dressing started an ongoing revolution,” noted Vogue in 1986.

Born in Tunisia, Ala​ïa moved to Paris in 1957, where he worked for others and dressed private clients for many years. His arrival on the scene, as it were, came later. As Sydney Picasso, an archaeologist, art critic, and daughter-in-law of Pablo Picasso, noted in 1990: “After all those Japanese clothes, Ala​ïa gave us back our bodies.” If the early work of Rei Kawakubo, fashion’s “nun,” obscured the body—perhaps in an attempt to liberate it from the male gaze—Ala​ïa glorified the female form in a very flirty, French way.

“Azzedine Ala​ïa: The Couturier,” opening at the Design Museum in London this week, will show that power was as integral a concept in his work as were beauty and technique. As influential as Alaïa’s designs are, they’re not always easy to find. This isn’t only because many of his seminal collections happened in a pre-Internet age; he also chose to show, and deliver, when he was ready—i.e., off schedule. Timed to the London exhibition, which the designer was involved in planning, we are adding eight Alaïa shows to our runway archive. Photographed in the designer’s home/work space in the Marais, these 1,013 images show Alaïa’s work come to life on the women with goddess-like physiques who inspired him: beauties like Farida Khelfa, Naomi Campbell, Marie-Sophie Wilson-Carr, Elle Macpherson (he designed her wedding dress), and Iman. Alaïa was a father figure to many of these models, for whom he cooked up meals and fashions. Now you, dear viewer, have a virtual seat at the table. Bon appétit!